Frankie's Place
A Love Story
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"A joy to read—a portrait of a place, a way of life, and a marriage by a reporter who turns out to be the world's last extant romantic." —Joan Didion
In this Tracy-Hepburn romance, a sophisticated New York intellectual is charmed by a down-to-earth newspaperman. Frankie's Place is the tale of a summer cottage and the story that unfolds under its roof. Jim Sterba is the down-to-earth newspaperman who charms the New York sophisticate, Frances FitzGerald, after several visits to her writer's retreat on the coast in Maine. Frankie's place is a secluded little house out of harm's way and the clamor of the modern world. Icy plunges into the Somes Sound christen their island mornings; then there is a long period of dutiful writing followed, in the late afternoon, by rigorous mountain walks, forays for wild mushrooms, and sailing. In the evenings Jim and Frankie prepare simple island meals as they talk about everything from the stories or books they're working on to the bigger issue of Jim's reunion with his long-lost father. Although they couldn't have had more disparate childhoods—Jim grew up on a struggling Michigan farm while Frankie lived in a Manhattan town house and an English country estate—their shared summer rituals have them falling in love before our eyes.
"A highly entertaining tale of love, family, and place . . . It took me places I hadn't expected to go. I loved it." —Tom Brokaw
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rarely does a subtitle describe a book so well as this one encapsulates journalist Sterba's experiences at the New England cabin of his friend, fellow writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Frances "Frankie" FitzGerald. This is a work suffused with love of every stripe, from the romantic kind to the kind one might feel for a place, a way of life and a really good dinner. Although memoirs that arise from such contented sighs are sometimes overly sentimental, Sterba's journalistic edge keeps the prose far from mushy. It also makes for a strange yet delightful combination of elements. Mixed in with his tale of falling in love with Frankie are memories from his days reporting on Asia for the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, thoughts about lobster and descriptions of prosaic events like brushing his teeth or reading the New Yorker. There are also some recipes that are probably best cooked at a cabin in Maine, after a bracing swim or a stroll through a town store that still sells penny candy. Sterba is a practical romantic who can dream away an afternoon on a sailboat but still hold a lively conversation about how tripartite boat ownership necessitates a consensus during an extensive naming session for the craft. As his relationships with the boat, Maine and cooking unfold over the course of one summer, so too does his romance with Frankie, all of it taking on the same vacation-like pace that's suffused with leisure but quickens with bursts of activity. This is a beautiful memoir, giving a glimpse not just of a person but of a time and a place worth noting.
